The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1887-07-29
old Times at Ricbmautowu.


Conversing with an old Richmantownel
the other evening he gave us some point.
about the early days of that little hamlet
that made us laugh, and satisfied us that
however mischievous the youth of the
present generation may be, those of forty
years ago were not a whit behind them in
''deviltry." There used to be a crowd o.
kindred spirits there that in these days
would be called a gang" rollicking, dev.
il-may-care fellows, always ready for 9
racket, and many a racket they had. The
old time pastor of the Woodstown NJ. L
church, Mullen by name, well remembered
by many here, 4 Jealous, earnest man OF
Irish nationality. essayed to better the
moral condition of the neighborhood by
opening a ~Sunday-school in the old school
house that stood on the road leading from
Israel Morgan's to Yorktown, now con-
verted into a dwelling. The experiment
was not a success. The boys were too
full of ''old Nick,' and the dominic was
fain to give up in disgust, remarking that
"Richmantown was about as near HI as
it could get by land!'' One of the resi-
dents of the neighborhood had one time a
fine walnut log which he intended to take
to the saw mill and have worked up into
coffin plank and the like. The boys got
word of his intention and concluded to save
him the trouble. They procured a pound
of gun powder and watching a favorable
chance visited the place where the log lay
ready for loading and, boring a hole in it,
charged it with about a quarter pound of
powder and "let 'er goi' There was not
enough log left to take to the mill. The
boys had a large share of their powder left
but were at 40 loss as TO the disposal of it.
One night they raided the wbeelwright
shop ana borrowed a two-inch anger.
The blacksmith shop contributed a piece
of iron to which they fastened the auger
and with the improyised drill bored a deep
hole in the ground, near the shops, and
poured the powder into it, ramming it tight.
An elder stem, with the pith punched out
and filed with powder, served as a fuse
and was inserted in the hole and the whole
business securely tamped with dirt well
rammed. An armful of shavings laid over
the spot and set fire to was expected to
finish the job and give R~ichmantown a
salute, the like of which had not greeted
the ~astonished ears of its citizens since the
first Richman settled there. But s'there's
many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip
and it was so i'll this case, for the pile OF
shavings burnt down and out without pro-
ducing the desired explosion. One of the
most ventaresome spirits of the band, now
a sober and staid citizen of our Borough,
who, we expect, will laugh when he sees
this and wonder how on earth we got on
to him, cautiously approached the mine
and, crouching on all-fours, with distended
cheeks, blew a mighty blast upon the
smouldering embers of the pile of shaw
ings. The result exceeded his most san
guine expectations. The mine was mot
dead, but sleeping" A mighty explosion
followed which walked the echoes far and
near and made Richmantown think thai
the day of doom had surely come, and
''the boy, oh, where was hep" He was
fattened ont against the side of the wheel,
wright shop, which was all that saved him
from being blown into the next county,
and a hole in the ground big enough 'tc
bury an OK, marked the place where erst-
while he had knelt to fan with gentle
breath the smouldering flame. 1t was
grand success and added one more TO the
black list of outrages already lying at the
door of the Riehmantown young men OF
forty years ago. We may tell you more
about Richmantown in another edition.